Remus Lupin and The Unforgettable Auror Nymphadora
by PoppedTheP
Summary: Remus Lupin is the Defence teacher for the Ministry's Auror Trainees. An alternative "how they met" & subsequent relationship for our pair! Born from how much I'd fancy Remus if he were my teacher, continues through HP Timeline. AUish but fits with canon.
1. Back To School

**Remus Lupin and The Unforgettable Auror Nymphadora**

**By JLM**

_A/N: Hello! I'm coming back to the world of R/T after years away! Hopefully my writing will have improved somewhat. _

_JK owns what she owns. I own the rest. Rated T for possible mild language/sexuality but will mostly be family friendly and fluffy, with a dash of angst and adventure._

_This is completely and deliciously AU, a whole new universe in which R/T could have met. I'm taking a lot of liberties with the facts of how Auror training was probably run. This idea comes mostly from my love of Teacher!Remus. If I manage to stick with it, I have this fic-verse planned throughout the time-frame of all 7 books, mostly adhering to canon when they run into canon events. This story begins somewhere around the Philosopher's Stone in HP-universe time. Harry might come up later but he won't really be a feature of this story, it's R/T focussed._

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Nymphadora Tonks sat slumped in her chair at the back of the classroom, scuffing the toe of one of her big black boots on the heel of the other. Her first week of Auror Training was proving at least ten times more difficult than she'd expected, and less than half as fun. She hadn't been expecting to be thrown into battle with Dark Wizards straight away, but memorising Antidote spells in Basic Potions & Charms For Field Use this morning she'd felt like she was back in a classroom at Hogwarts.

Tonks was hopeful that this Practical Defence class, her first as a trainee Auror, would be where they really got down to the exciting stuff.

She didn't want to look too keen though, since most of her classmates were still a bit miffed at her for causing their Concealment and Disguise instructor to break out in rapturous applause when she used her Metamorphmagus abilities to run through the entire series of looks on the syllabus for the year in five minutes. So she'd taken a seat at the back and, as she was used to from her Hogwarts days, was trying to come across as cool rather than a freak or a swot in light of the extra attention drawn to her by her unusual quirk.

The Head of the Auror Office, Alastor Moody, who had been following them around all week to make sure they were properly introduced and got settled (and was appropriately named in Tonks' opinion), was ushering the last few stragglers into the room. They hurried in, looking as though they thought if they moved fast enough no-one would notice them, as Moody barked,

"If you can't find the bloody classroom on time, you'll have no chance in the field! You might as well pack your bags now!"

He cleared his throat with a hacking cough and hobbled to the front of the classroom.

"Right! This is your first Practical Defence lesson as new recruits, and I'm warning you now: this is where we sort the soldiers from the Squibs! I would say you'll be lucky to make it through the year, but it's got nothing to do with luck. It's about perserverance and strength of character, and above all, talent! Personally I could rule a few of you out right now! But I'll leave that up to your instructor."

He gave a sweep of a knarled arm and Tonks noticed a tallish thin man standing in the corner so unassumingly that she was sure he hadn't been there when she came in, and even surer that he couldn't be the instructor Moody was referring to.

The dark shadows under his eyes were the only colour in his pale complexion and his grey woolly cardigan hung off him. Not only did he look like an Expelliarmus would finish him off, he was beaming at them the way an uncle regards his favourite nieces or nephews, his warm smile reaching his eyes.

Even as she thought he was not someone she'd be intimidated by if she were a Dark Wizard, Tonks couldn't help the smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth in response to his welcoming grin, as he stepped forward and inclined his head by way of introduction. He scanned the room briefly and yet it felt to Tonks, and to everyone else it seemed, that he'd made contact with each of them personally.

"This is Remus Lupin and he will instruct you in Practical Defence. If anyone can get you through this year, it's Lupin, so pay attention."

Moody nodded to Lupin with a new expression on his face which Tonks identified as respect (and briefly lamented that she'd probably never be on the receiving end of). He then clunked out of the classroom, grunting as he closed the door.

Tonks' first thought about Remus Lupin was that he made her feel uneasy, but in a good way. He settled himself against his desk to continue Moody's address to the class. Everyone was impressed by Moody's favourable opinion of him and eagerly interested in what he had to say. So though the friendly conversational tone of his slightly hoarse, very pleasant, voice was a complete contrast to Moody's, he held their full attention.

"Well," he said, clasping his hands on the edge of his desk and rubbing the wood, as if by habit.

"As Alastor told you, I will be your Practical Defense instructor, and my name is Remus Lupin. Please don't call me 'sir' or 'professor'; we're a bit old for that now and I'll treat you with respect if you do the same for me in return."

Even though he spoke to everyone at once, Tonks felt as though he was talking to each of them individually and looking for their responses. She stopped scuffing her shoe and sat up a bit in her chair, not wanting to meet the effort he invested with nonchalence.

"Welcome to your first Practical Defence lesson!" he clapped his hands and his eyes shone with a promise of all the excitement Tonks has been waiting for.

"I must warn you that you have chosen a difficult career path and the training is mercilessly rigorous. You may think Alastor over-dramatic, but what he's told you is quite true. Only three or four students out of your whole class can expect to move up to the next year…"

Coming from Remus Lupin instead of Moody, it sounded somehow more reasonable and comforting, and yet Tonks felt a spark of determination go off inside her to prove herself and be one of those few who progress. If there was one thing her stupid Black heritage was good for, it was steely ambition. That and cheekbones, of course.

"…and I'll do my very best to make sure each of you has a fighting chance to be one of them.' Lupin continued,

"We'll work hard, learn a lot, and if you're conscientious there might be time left over for a little fun too."

Tonks could feel the people around her bristling with enthusiasm, raring to go. Remus Lupin smiled a quietly satisfied smile, apparently pleased with how his introduction had gone down, before moving off the desk to pace as he continued.

"So, now that introductions are out of the way, let's begin. Since we are all new to each other, I'd like you to introduce yourselves one by one, please, and for a bit of fun why not show us your favourite spell."

His smile crinkled the lines around his eyes and Tonks wondered how old he was. Though he had the physical weariness of an old-ish person, there was something enticingly boyish about him. It seemed not to contradict his aged features, rather to enhance and enliven them.

"And honour of going first falls to…"

Remus indicated a mop of dirty blonde hair on the far left in the front row, which stood up and introduced itself as Yillium Gibbons. The boy, too gangly for the space around him, like a daddy long legs spider, swept the heavy mop of hair away from his face to perform his spell. He chose a skirt-lifting hex, which got a great whoop from the boys and a giggle from the girls. They were still fresh from Hogwarts, most of them either eighteen or nineteen.

Tonks' mind began to whirr as to what spell she wanted to show. This was important.

She really wanted to get up and do a morph, just to see what Remus Lupin's reaction would be. She wasn't sure if she wanted to shock him or gain his approval, but she definitely wanted to stand out in his memory.

Unfortunately she'd had bad experiences of standing out, and these were the crucial first few days, in which she would either make or break her chance of having a social life for the next three years; since Auror training was such a huge time commitment that these would be basically the only people she'd be around; like being at Hogwarts.

She'd already made a spectacle of herself in Concealment and Disguise. She needed a cool spell, one that would catch Remus Lupin's attention whilst showing her classmates she didn't take herself too seriously.

An appropriate spell came to mind almost immediately, and was indeed one of her favourites. But the thought was quickly followed by the niggling feeling that this particular spell would be horribly rude and would not make a good first impression on Remus Lupin.

Tonks had learnt to play pranks at Hogwarts, as a way of showing everyone she was not to be messed with, without having to be mean. Her morphing meant she stood out from day one, so it was either stand out for being fun and cool or get picked on for being different. So she'd had gotten used to rebelling, being the fun one, and learned to enjoy a good joke. In fact she found it hard not to make them when an opportunity arose. But this man seemed so nice and the thought of playing a nasty trick on him made her feel so awful.

Unfortunately Melissa Nogwold in the seat next to Tonks was just finishing her spell, and with the pressure of a room of pairs of eyes turning to her, Tonks' mind went completely blank of everything except the spell that never failed to entertain but was currently sure to end in trouble (or something along the lines of trouble, like agitation or annoyance).

She was plagued by one last attack of conscience as she pushed back her chair and stood up. But three years is a long time to spend with no friends and people who think you're a weirdo suck-up, so, thinking she had the balls to be in Gryffindor, Tonks decided to go for it.

"I'm Nymphadora Tonks." she said, cringing at her first name and running a small hand self-consciously through her short pink hair, making her coloured bracelets jangle.

"But unless you really have to use my first name, I'd much rather pretend it doesn't exist and go by 'Tonks'…That especially goes for anyone who doesn't want to be on the receiving end of my favourite spell."

She grinned in a way that very much suited her first name and pulled her wand from her back pocket and the watermelon flavoured Drooble's from under her tongue.

"Waddiwasi!" she announced, pointing her wand at the gum.

It shot from her hand straight up Remus Lupin's nose, and the class let out a collective gasp and then burst into laughter, a few people giving appreciative whistles and applause.

And no-one was laughing harder than Remus Lupin himself; the words "Absolute classic!" could be distinctly made out between gasps. With the gum up his nose, he nearly snorted, which made him laugh even harder, his eyes dancing. When the laughter died down, he tapped his nose with his wand twice and the gum shot out and zoomed around the room into the bin by the door.

"Excellent choice, Nymphadora!" he smiled broadly.

Tonks was struck speechless momentarily, half joyful, half stunned, not only that he knew how to undo the spell, but also at his unexpected mirthful reaction. Eventually the first thought that came to her mind was,

"I just asked not to be called that"

"You did. On pain of being on the receiving end of waddiwasi; and since I was, I felt I'd earned the right to use it once, as I was otherwise an innocent victim."

Tonks wondered whether being oddly charming was Remus Lupin's secret weapon against Dark Wizards, because it was worryingly disarming. She felt a warm flush but she couldn't help laughing along with everyone, even though she'd come out wrong-footed in her attempt to appear cool.

That spell had been passed down the generations at Hogwarts, only entrusted to the most cunning of pranksters. She was the first girl to learn it in over a decade. She didn't think anyone outside of her group of friends knew it. That had been why she'd thought it would look so impressive.

"How did you know…?"

"Ah, that spell is a personal favourite of mine" this time she was sure his smile was just for her. And she had the distinct feeling that despite things not going as she'd planned, she _had_ made a good impression. The light in his eyes was both playful and a strange sort of admiring at the same time. Tonks felt with a thrill of pleasure that she may have won over Remus Lupin already.

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Everyone left Lupin's class excited and raring to go. Stealth and Tracking, was next though, and was a disaster for Tonks. After alarming her house elf for a fourth time by accidentally whacking it with the curtain she was supposed to be concealed behind, she gave up chasing after it and the poor thing escaped to the Ministry Healer with a severe case of jitters.

The class was taught by Professor Slindra, a raven-like woman who was the polar opposite of Remus Lupin, had a voice that could chill Ogden's and a creepy habit of appearing suddenly behind you when you were having a grumble to the person next to you.

She was very unsympathetic to Tonks' insistence that it was,

"A natural flaw. Almost a disability, I swear. And completely incurable, believe me I've tried."

"Try harder," Slindra scorned.

"Getting rid of those ridiculous boots would be a start. You look like you have two club feet."

The people within earshot turned their sniggers into coughs at the snap of Professor Slindra's head, but were unable to hold back snorts of laughter when raven-bitch turned her back and Tonks morphed and did a rude caricature impression.

If Slindra caught her, she at least pretended not to that time. Tonks wondered absent-mindedly how to get in touch with Professor Snape, because she had a feeling those two would get on like a broomstick on fire.

Though undoubtedly the clumsiest student in the class, and possibly in the history of Auror Training, Tonks was not the only one who having difficulty. Yillium Gibbons kept getting somehow tangled in his own gangly arms and legs, and tripped himself up almost as much as Tonks did. They shared a moment of sympathising with each other whilst she helped him look for his elf; who'd had enough and run away.

The trainee Aurors' mood, which had dropped considerably by the end of Stealth class, positively plummeted after an hour of non-stop Speed and Stamina broom drills.

Heavy with exhaustion, the only way Tonks could stay awake in Theory and Principles of Magical Law Enforcement, which seemed to be taught by Professor Binns' older, more boring cousin, was to write notes and animate funny cartoons with Yillium in the back row. By the end of the class the rest of the row—Elias "Rutters" Rutherford and Darren "Daz" Briggs—two decent-seeming lads with cheeky grins, had joined them.

Later, the four bonded over the sweet relief of a drink in the Cracked Oak, along with a few others they invited. Even though she was ready to turn in after a long day, it was a laugh and Tonks was happy to have made a few decent mates.

She had given the few girls in her Auror class a quick once-over to look for promising bessie mates, but they didn't seem her type. Before lunchtime they'd already banded into a tight pack, and spent the hour gossiping over the latest Rita Skeeter scandal and complimenting each others' hair and designer bags.

Tonks had eaten lunch with her friend Cel from Hogwarts, who had just been hired at the Ministry as the newest administration assistant in the Department of International Magic Co-operation. They mostly talked about all the cool holidays Cel would get to take for the job, while Tonks tried to not get too jealous, as it seemed to be a solid three years of hard work ahead for her.

Luckily Cel would have the same lunch break as Tonks every day. So she didn't anticipate a lack of daily girl-influence in her life, nor lament that she and the other girls would probably never be friends. Tonks was quite a girly-girl, in her opinion (after all she had been raised by her mother!) But not in the way most girls were; and while she accepted everyone for who they were, she had always refused to be something she wasn't just to get along with people, and wasn't about to start now.

When she finally collapsed into her saggy bed that night, it creaked satisfyingly, and her head was as thick and heavy as a block. She feel into a deep sleep as soon as she hit the pillow.

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The next day, when she woke up to her Weird Sisters Dancing Alarm Wizard at an unearthly hour in the morning, the first thing that popped into her head was Remus Lupin, with his warm friendly smile, and she felt a small pulse of excitement in the pit of her stomach. His was the only class she was looking forward to. Though why she was so excited about it when she had a whole three other classes to go first, she didn't know.

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_A/N: Boom! Here we go! Let me know what you thought! I hope there are still people reading R/T fic out there all these years later! :)_


	2. Teacher Crush

_A/N: Hello again! Thanks for adding me to your story alerts! Please drop a quick note in the review box to let me know what you think!_

_Thank you very much to Eurudike, Shadowlark, the-purple-black, digeridon't, Dori1587 and all the anonymous reviewers for your lovely words!_

_Here's Chapter Two. Also, can anyone recommend me really great Andromeda/Ted fic, or Teddy/Victoire fic? I'm branching out in my interests!_

_~JLM._

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** Remus Lupin and the Unforgettable Auror Nymphadora**

Tonks haphazardly kicked her Weird Sisters Dancing Alarm off her bedside table with an optimistic swipe of her foot and burrowed further under her blankets like a sleepy mole. Mondays did not bode well for her these days.

After the N.E.W.T.s she thought she'd never have to work so hard again, but in three weeks Auror Training had proven her wrong already.

Tonks enjoyed hard work when she was passionate about the subject, but she could not bring herself to care about some of the rubbish they seemed determined she needed to know at Auror HQ. What did it matter how many toes a Troll had? She'd rather learn how to restrain an angry one!

There was only one class she looked forward to every day: Practical Defense. Not only did the class get immediately down to juicy relevant Defense spells, but it meant she got to spend an hour and a quarter with the delicious Remus Lupin. It hadn't taken long for him to become her favourite professor, and favourite part of the day. The way his eyes shone when he talked lit up her mornings and his quiet certain voice made her feel warm all over, like oozy honey.

She knew she wasn't the only one. Every girl in the class sat up straighter, completely rapt with admiration, while he taught and even the boys gave their full respect and attention.

Defense was one of the hardest classes but with Lupin's encouragement everyone was doing unexpectedly well. He seemed to have a gift for knowing exactly what each person needed to feel encouraged in their abilities and personally engaged in the lesson. His kindness and patience was almost palpable, and it wasn't until Tonks saw it in him that she realised how rarely she saw it in other teachers, not to mention other men.

Remus Lupin wasn't Tonks' first teacher crush.

She'd had a crush on Severus Snape for a few months at Hogwarts, because he was quick and dry and very funny in his own way and she was always intrigued by what went on behind his eyes. Tonks knew better than anyone not to judge a book by its cover.

She'd also had a misguided affection for their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in her third year, Ivanov Slavkis, a beautifully sculpted, heavily tattooed and disarmingly playful Wizard from Durmstrang. Unfortunately he turned out to be a little bit evil.

Compared to the others though, Remus Lupin was by far the biggest crush she'd had on a teacher yet. Possibly the biggest crush she'd had _ever _yet.

He wasn't the most attractive Wizard in the world, but he had a very attractive energy about him, almost magnetic. It transformed his not-unattractive features into a sexy, appealing whole and made her stomach squirm when she was in direct contact with him.

Unless he's so nice that he fakes laughing at her jokes and interest in her friendly conversations, Tonks would wager Remus quite enjoys her too. She tells herself she's being silly, that it's his job to create a pleasant relationship with her and engage with her eagerly, but it does seem like there's a real connection between them. Like if they'd met at a pub or through a friend rather than in a classroom, they could have a half decent conversation and potentially arrange further conversations and end up spending a lot of time together.

But she's not fool enough to think anything would happen outside of her daydreams, although some of the girls are. Tonks is by no means the only one who's noticed Remus. He's the teacher crush of almost every girl in her year, and one or two of the boys too.

It was the excitement of getting to see his warm twinkly smile (the image of which was already firmly imprinted in her brain) that finally dragged Tonks out of bed. On the way to the bathroom, she grabbed her wand from her bedside table and silenced the Weird Sisters Alarm, still valiantly dancing upside down on the floor where it had landed.

As she squinted blearily in the mirror and groped groggily for a toothbrush she wondered what little anecdote Remus Lupin would have for them today. He liked to punctuate his lessons with little personal stories, jokes and observations. He was obviously trying to make the work more memorable, but as a consequence he succeeded in making himself completely captivating and impossible to forget.

Tonks pulled on her most comfy baggy jeans without really thinking about it. Belatedly remembering she had Slindra first thing for Stealth, she swapped them for a pair with a tighter fit that didn't drag quite so much on the floor, tripping in the process of untangling her legs from one pair into the other and getting a tender bruise on her bum.

Scowling as stubbornly as her mother, she stuffed the stupid soft-soled shoes Slindra insisted she purchase in her bag with her robes, and pocketed her jangly colorful bracelets for good measure. Let the old hag say she wasn't trying hard to be stealthy now!

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After a painful hour and a quarter of falling out of a tree she was supposed to be hiding in and being tutted at by Slindra, Tonks was more than ready for Remus Lupin's class. She slid her colorful bangles back on with relish and was immediately and irrationally soothed as she turned the corner and caught sight of him setting a briefcase down on his desk.

It was the same old dodgy one he'd been bringing every day and Tonks wondered if there was some sort of fashion trend she was missing out on, as his clothes had the same long worn-in look too. Remus didn't seem the type to care about keeping up with trends, but he also didn't seem the type to have a busted up briefcase. He was obviously a very intelligent and brilliant Wizard and highly respected by the formidable Alastor Moody: Chief Auror.

As she was about to enter the class, Tonks overheard Clarence Clearwater being taken to the nurse, too ill to come to class. The poor girl hadn't done much better than Tonks at staying in her tree and the bump on her head looked quite nasty. Tonks was struck with a brilliant idea.

She had been toying with looking for a way to get the better of Remus Lupin since he surprised her by thwarting her attempt at flummoxing him in front of everyone with _waddiwassi_. Tonks was not ready to bow out and be bested by him; with completely good intentions, of course, just for a laugh—she hadn't grown out of pranks yet. And she thinks Remus is the kind of teacher who would enjoy the challenge of a good prank as much as she'd enjoy the challenge of pulling it. She added this to the list of reasons why he's wonderful.

Before anyone could notice her in the doorway, Tonks turned quickly around. By a small miracle she managed to make it to the nearest broom closet without drawing attention by tripping or crashing into anything. Once safely inside, she morphed herself to an exact replica of Clarence Clearwater, taking care to add exactly the right number of freckles, and even the mole behind her left ear.

While transfiguring her clothes, Tonks took a self-satisfied moment to be very glad for her excellent, almost photographic, memory—a natural talent trained to perfection by years of careful observation and copying of people, faces and details.

She marched into class, imitating Clarence's confident stride and the girly swing of her hips. It took every inch of her self-control not to stumble in the ridiculous heels Clarence was wearing today.

She took a seat in the middle of the cluster of girls Clarence usually sat with and Remus Lupin clapped his hands softly for attention. Everyone fell quiet expectantly. He started the class with his usual warm greeting and smile. Tonks' stomach fluttered despite herself.

"Today we begin counter-jinxes," he beamed eagerly. Though as she watched him intently Tonks thought he looked a little peaky, and wondered if he'd been ill over the weekend.

"I could bore you for the hour and a quarter we have together with the theory behind what we're going to do, but I find the best way to learn something tricky is often to dive right in and try it with your own wand."

Tonks, always practical, (her dad reckoned she'd got that from him) couldn't agree more.

"I shall partner you up for our first exercise," Lupin continued. "No pressure at all, just think of this as a warm-up between friends."

His smile crinkled at the corners and Tonks though how she loved his crackly low voice and his careful choice of words and daft sense of humour. The way his eyes lit up when he got excited about a particular detail, and the endearing duck of his head when he was trying to be humble about all the things he knew.

While she drifted through her favourite thoughts of Lupin, he began moving around the room partnering people up. Tonks could hardly sit still from mischievous glee, but maintained Clarence's demeanor as best she could as he approached her row.

"Bethilda Burns," he gestured to the girl next to Tonks, "and…Milly Fallow," he had paused, thinking carefully in order to match each student with a suitable partner.

"Ah ha," he smiled pleasantly as he moved along to where Tonks sat as Clarence.

"Byron Hollings and," he raised one eyebrow just slightly in a tiny smile as he looked her in the eye, "Nymphadora Tonks."

Tonks' mouth dropped open in surprise.

"But, sir, Tonks isn't here today," Byron called from his seat in the next row, scanning the class to be certain. He was clearly fooled, how had Remus Lupin not been? Just exactly how brilliant was this wizard?

Remus nodded encouragingly to Hollings, gesturing to where Tonks-Clarence sat, "She's right here, Byron."

His grin was impossibly smug, and Tonks hated how that look made her swoon a little, even as it simultaneously made her grit her teeth.

"Umm, that's Clarence, sir," Hollings explained, assuming that Lupin had them mixed up. Remus held up a gentle hand to stop him.

"Please, call me Remus, you're not at Hogwarts anymore, there's no need for formalities" Lupin smiled pleasantly. "And I think you'll find this is Nymphadora," he added. "Though I wonder what's happened to Clarence…"

Tonks watched Lupin head for his desk to make a note of Clarence's absence with her mouth still open. He had now not only thwarted her brilliantly clever prank a second time but called her Nymphadora twice in quick succession in front of the whole class. And all while grinning like a smug, disconcertingly attractive old git. Bugger this.

"How did you know?" she demanded, letting her features shift back to her regular heart shaped face with pink spikes.

She dimly registered a few surprised gasps and chuckles, but her attention was fixed on Remus Lupin as he turned from his desk to face her, eyes glinting dangerously with wicked humour.

"Your student file says you're a Metamorphmagus," he replied calmly, eyes still alight.

She heard a few whispers go around the few members of the class who hadn't figured that out yet.

"But how did you know who I was morphed as?" she insisted indignantly, sounding every inch the Black in her blood.

"You're unforgettable." Remus answered quietly, still smiling intently.

Her heart pounded.

Remus moved away from his desk to continue pairing up the rest of the class, apparently unaware of her pounding heart or the fact she was still slightly staring at him. Tonks was left to attempt counter-jinxes with Byron, despite feeling like she'd already been slightly stunned.


	3. A Good Student

Remus Lupin and the Unforgettable Auror Nymphadora

_A/N: Hello everyone, Happy New Year! Welcome to all the new readers who've joined this story's alerts. Happy to have you! Thank you to everyone who reviewed for the words of feedback. I really appreciate reviews, if you have time to leave a quick comment please do! You may notice we're in present tense now, because it just sort of worked out that way. On with the first 2011 chapter of the story…_

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Remus Lupin is not at their next Practical Defence class. Moody takes the class in his absence and by the end of the hour and a quarter no less than five people have burst in to tears. Two of them are boys.

Tonks surprises herself more than anyone by doing incredibly well. After class Moody beckons her to his desk with a gnarled finger.

"Excellent work today, Nymphadora," he growls, though it seems as though he is intending to sound warm and fatherly.

"Er, it's just Tonks sir, but thanks, I…" Tonks manages to stammer in surprise, but Moody carries on as if she hadn't tried to interrupt,

"I can see Remus was right about you," he pats her on the shoulder.

Tonks is startled by both the awkward pat and the fact that Remus Lupin has apparently been talking about her.

"Remus, what?" she tries to ask, but Moody steams ahead again.

"Look forward to seeing what you can do by this time next month," his face twists into a shape that Tonks realizes is an attempt at a smile. She manages to smile back, though her mind is still on what Remus could possibly have been saying about her.

"If you're ever in need of advice, the door to my office is always open. The password is 'Flobberworm'." Moody has gathered his briefcase and collection of magical teaching tools and is heading for the door.

"Keep that to yourself, Nymphadora." His magical eye swivels in a full circle and he leaves abruptly.

"It's Tonks," she calls half-heartedly, pulling a face at his retreating back.

"Sir," she adds, remembering that he can see her.

Tonks is left to wonder why on earth Moody seems to be taking her under his wing, feeling more alarmed than anything that he is impressed with her work.

Jolly nice of him, though.

As she gathers up her rolls of parchment and silly soft-soled Stealth shoes and heads to Slindra's class, Tonks' mind cannot stop racing through possibilities of things Remus could have said about her.

She worries all day about him. Moody didn't give a reason for his absence and there are all sorts of whispers going around her classmates. Some think he's just ill, others are convinced he's run off with a Veela to get married.

Tonks hopes that one isn't true. She knows it's silly; it's not like she wants him to marry _her. _But she does miss him already. She looks forward to his class so much that a day without seeing him already feels too long.

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Thankfully Remus is back next class, looking a bit pale and peaky but generally very cheerful. After subtly checking his left hand, Tonks sees no wedding ring.

She hits her head on the desk while sneaking a look, but it's worth it.

Maybe he was off fighting a secret mission for the Ministry against evil Dark Creatures. Tonks wouldn't be surprised. She would bet he could have a bit of the James Bond charm about him when he wants to.

Remus quashes most of the rumours about where he's been at the beginning of the lesson,

"I apologise for my absence yesterday. I appreciate your concern but I'm quite all right."

Remus directs this to the row of girls in the front, and it is then that Tonks notices a small collection of homemade Get Well Soon cards on his desk, decorated with nauseatingly cute puppies and kittens. Looks like Tonks wasn't the only one who missed Lupin.

"Thank you very much for the cards, but they really weren't necessary."

Remus smiles kindly at the girls, his eyes twinkling with affection, and Tonks inexplicably wants to hex every one of them. Remus is thankfully oblivious to her sudden murderous rage—unfortunate Black family trait—and continues pacing the room, clasping his hands and drumming his long fingers against his knuckles.

"No need to worry, I have a monthly commitment that will keep me away for a day or two. I've worked it out with Alastor that for that time you'll have a supervised assignment."

As he's talking, Tonks notices as small angry cut on the side of Remus' neck. It's only visible when he turns his head, and she thinks she probably only caught it because she watches him so closely.

The cut disappears down under his collar, and Tonks wonders how far it goes. It looks deep and quite nasty.

Now that she is inspecting his neck so closely, Tonks notices several scars disappearing below the collar of his grey woolly jumper. Yillium next to her gives her a funny look when she makes a quiet noise of shock involuntarily.

The mystery of Remus Lupin goes deeper than she thought. Tonks wonders if those scars continue beneath Remus' clothes and what happened to him.

She realizes she is blushing at the thought of _beneath Remus' clothes _and wants to hex herself along with those girls in the front row for being so silly.

Quickly re-directing her attention back to her surroundings, Tonks hears Remus explaining that he would like to assign a teacher's assistant to the class to oversee the monthly assignment and assist with a few general administrative duties.

The excited murmur that goes through the class as he asks for volunteers for the position is tangible.

"It shouldn't be too much work, and we might even have a little fun," Remus grins encouragingly, pleased with the interest.

"If you think this is something you wouldn't mind doing, please submit your name to me at the end of the lesson."

He conjures a small box and places it on the desk with a pile of little slips of paper for names.

When the lesson ends, every single person rushes to form a queue at the box. Slindra is outraged at the number of people turning up late next lesson because they refused to leave the queue until they had submitted themselves.

[][][][][]

That night Tonks lets her sort-of boyfriend Toby talk her into dinner at the pub. They talk about bands and nonsense and she tries to remember why she started going out with him in the first place. Must have been his Dragon Tooth earring.

Her mind drifts to her name in Remus' little box, and how much she'd love to be chosen as his assistant. Because aside from the obvious prestige of the position on her resume, any excuse to spend time with Remus is worth the extra time; even on an Auror Training schedule.

Toby is going on about dragons now and Tonks thinks, not for the first time, that he'd be better off going out with her old mate Charlie Weasely.

When she sees Remus at the bar she thinks at first that he's a figment of her imagination. She blinks a couple of times and now he's leaving the bar with a large pint of Butterbeer and retreating to a secluded table in the far corner.

"Wotcher, Professor Lupin!" Tonks calls. He looks over his shoulder and smiles when he sees her. Definitely didn't dream him up just because she was thinking so much about him then.

Remus heads over to their table, his Butterbeer sloshing a bit over the rim as he approaches. He licks the spilt frothy trails from the side of the glass before they run down his wrist and Tonks' breath catches for a second as she watches his tongue run up the glass.

"Hello Nymphadora," he smiles pleasantly.

"It's Tonks, I've told you a hundred…" Tonks starts to say, but she stops when Remus chuckles.

"If you insist on calling me 'Professor Lupin', I'm afraid it's fair game what I call you in return."

Toby, who paused in the middle of his dragon story when Tonks called Remus over, laughs at this. His laugh is a coarse counterpoint to Remus' soft chuckle.

"Besides, I happen to be fond of your first name." Remus adds, then looks a little surprised at himself and stops laughing abruptly.

Tonks, who had been feeling thoroughly outsmarted once again by Remus Lupin, feels a surge of affection towards him at this, more powerful than she was prepared for. Thankfully Toby is dense as a bog and unaware of the tension that suddenly creeps over the table.

"So, you're one of Tonks' new teachers then, eh?"

Remus nods and extends the hand that is free of Butterbeer to clasp Toby's.

"Remus Lupin," he offers warmly. "You must be Tonks'…"

"…boyfriend. Toby MacMillan." Toby supplies, before Tonks can answer herself.

She is less than thrilled that Remus now thinks this. Not that it's entirely untrue, it's just not something she'd want _Remus_ to know.

"Ah, yes." Remus nods again, and he's smiling but Tonks thinks it might be fractionally less warm. Or she could be imagining it.

"Fancy seeing you here," she gives Remus a smile of her own. She wishes she'd bothered to change after her last class rather than going straight out. She really didn't care what Toby thought but she doesn't want Remus to think she's a right shabby Witch not making an effort to look nice for a meal with her boyfriend.

"Just going through a bit of paperwork for tomorrow. Always is nicer with a warm drink," he inclines his head towards the Butterbeer in his hand and takes another sip. Tonks watches his adam's apple bob in his long neck when he swallows.

"In fact, I've been thinking about the assistant position," he added.

"Oh?" is all Tonks can think of to say. Her heart has started pounding quickly again.

"I was glad to see you were interested," he continues. Tonks marvels how he can speak so soft and low in a loud pub and yet she can hear every word keenly.

"Oh, right," she says again. Normally she can't shut up, but there isn't a thing she can think of to say at the moment.

"Alastor thinks you show a lot of promise, and I quite agree. No matter how much you try to disguise it by sitting in the back row and playing pranks," he chuckles at this, "Your marks are excellent and you work harder than anyone in the class."

Tonks would morph away the blush but he'd notice her screwing up her nose and probably use it as an excuse to make a joke. And Toby would if Remus didn't.

"Er, thanks, Remus," she says. Addressing him by his first name feels wildly intimate, and she wonders if it's because he's her professor or just because it's him.

"You made the decision easy. The position is yours if you'd like it." He smiles widely.

"Oh, cripes, Remus," now that she's started using his name she can't stop and finds she rather likes it. "I don't know what to say." He frowns, "No that's not what I mean! I mean I'd love to," she corrects herself quickly.

There are many different ways to be clumsy. Tonks doesn't blame her mouth though, because her brain is still trying to digest that he choose _her_ out of the whole class, and said she _made the decision easy_. What did that mean?

"Bet you're glad to have Tonksy in your class, eh?" Toby butts in like anyone cares what he's saying.

"Of course," Remus answers automatically.

"Gotta find it useful having a metamorphmagus around the classroom, haven't you?" he waffles on, loud and coarse as usual. "I know I do in the bedroom," he winks conspiratorially at Remus.

"Oi, shut it you dirty bugger!" Tonks glares at him open-mouthed and kicks him hard in the shin beneath the table.

Horribly embarrassed, she hardly dares to glance at Remus.

When she does out of the corner of her eye, Remus looks genuinely angry for a second. She's never seen him look like that and it's quite frightening.

He takes a deep breath before he speaks and his voice comes out calmer than she thought it was going to from the feral look in his eyes. He clears his throat and Toby looks like he might regret making the stupid joke innuendo.

"If I were lucky enough to be sleeping with such a lovely young witch," Remus says quietly, "I would be too busy thanking my lucky stars that she'd have me, enjoying her for who she is and trying my best to make sure she had a pleasant experience to waste time asking her to look like someone else. I wouldn't be wishing for her to be anyone but herself."

Tonks thinks she might fall off her chair. Remus said that with such sincerity it sounded like a line from one of those Muggle romance films she used to watch at her nan's. And it's the nicest thing a man who wasn't her dad has ever said about her.

"You've gone all red mate," Toby announces to Remus untactfully.

"Oh?" Remus raises an eyebrow coolly, but he looks embarrassed to have said too much.

"Well, I must get back to those papers, don't let me keep you from your dinner," he talks into his jumper, not quite meeting their eyes as he adjusts the Butterbeer glass in his hand walks away to his table.

"See you next lesson, Nymphadora," Tonks hears over his shoulder.

She watches Remus settle at his table, scooping up an armful of papers and rifling through them. Toby is waffling on with the rest of his dragon story but she ignores him—serve the stupid prat right—and watches Remus instead. It makes her feel peaceful to watch him work.

She feels bad for him that he's on his own on a Friday night. Even if he is working, he's in a pub. He should be with someone—he deserves someone wonderful.

Tonks wonders if Remus has a girlfriend and thinks about the kind of witch Remus Lupin would like. Kind, of course, clever and funny so they could have brilliant talks and tease each other—because he'd be bored without that—and pretty, but not too glamorous or into her looks. Cheeky enough to challenge him, strong and brave enough to earn his respect, committed to unravelling the mystery that she's beginning to see lurking behind his pleasant manners.

Tonks knows these thoughts are silly. Remus has probably got a girlfriend already—he must have, he's basically perfect. He's probably hurrying home to her as soon as he finishes his paperwork. Maybe he couldn't work at home because she was too distractingly beautiful and charming.

This thought sinks like a gobstone in the bottom of Tonks' stomach. She tries to comfort herself with the thought that at least she gets to see him everyday in school. And with the assistant position, she'll get to see a lot of him. That won't do her silly crush any good, but it'll be something lovely to look forward to.

She wants to thump Toby over the head with a Whomping Willow, but instead she lets him walk her home and then talk her into staying over at his house. Because it's not like Remus is offering. Though his lovely words run through her head as she drifts off to sleep with Toby's hairy arm around her waist.


	4. Tonks the Teacher's Assistant

**Remus Lupin and the Unforgettable Auror Nymphadora**

_A/N: Thank you again for all the lovely reviews, alerts & favourites! I really appreciate your feedback. Hope you enjoy this chapter and that your 2011 is good so far!_

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Becoming Remus' assistant does wonders for the amount of time Tonks gets to spend time with him. She can't get enough of him. She keeps offering to help out with even more extra work and they end up spending most evenings in his office going through several pots of tea while her mates and the other trainees head off to the pub after a hard day.

She doesn't mind a bit. In fact, she's glad of his lilting voice, his twinkly smile, his careful hands, his ability to listen patiently, his daft sense of humour. They soothe her better than a Firewhiskey.

They manage to have a laugh together even doing simple tasks like marking essays and cleaning and organising the classroom cupboard.

Tonks loves Remus' office. It's nothing like you'd expect from a Professor's office: not stuffy at all. It's cosy and interesting, like a treasure trove of magical knowledge. It reminds her of the song in that Muggle Mermaid film her dad got her when she was little (which left her woefully underprepared for her first encounter with a REAL Mermaid).

It's not big and a bit cramped with the two of them in there, especially given Tonks' proclivity for clumsiness. But there's a big fireplace that casts flickering shadows on the walls and some comfy old chairs with satin cushions, which make the small size nice and intimate.

There's a desk too, and an old wooden chair with legs missing and other legs stuck in their place. Tonks never touches this particular chair for fear of breaking it. One wall is entirely covered in books, and the others are lined floor to ceiling with shelves packed with various magical objects, equipment, potions, and, of course, creatures; which are Remus' speciality, she's learned.

After only a few days they are chatting like friends and getting to know a bit about each other. He tells her how he got into Dark Creatures because he feels they are often overlooked and discarded as dangerous pests when there's so much more to them.

"They have much left to teach us," he says, "If we'd only give them half a chance and pay them a bit of positive attention for a change. It's so easy to write something off as a Dark Creature without considering its complexities."

Tonks is captivated by the passion shining in his eyes when he talks about this. He lets her stroke a baby Doxy and she's surprised to find it rather sweet when it's not gnawing at a pair of curtains.

She catches Remus watching her coo to the cute little thing in a silly baby voice and feels an odd sort of proud triumph in how pleased he seems at her reaction.

"I try not to write anything off at first," Tonks says, worried she sounds silly but needing to say it. "Usually what other people think of you is a load of bollocks, I've had plenty of experience in that with my family being what it is, so I tend to make up my own mind."

"Yes, I see that about you," Remus answers with a smile that warms Tonks from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. He looks deeply thoughtful.

"It's a remarkably wonderful quality. Everyone's born with it. So many children loose it as they grow up and encounter fear and prejudice, but yours is almost entirely intact."

Tonks isn't sure whether to be pleased at what seems like a great compliment or disheartened that he thinks of her as childlike.

During the long talks they inevitably fall into, she ends up telling him about her family, the confusion of being raised between an uptight Black and an overly sloppy Muggleborn. Then she talks about Hogwarts; being distrusted by fellow Hufflepuffs because of her family and her ability to change her appearance and mocked by Slytherins for the same reason.

She tells him how the hostility among her classmates lead to her becoming overly friendly, engaging in troublemaking and silly jokes to endear herself to her sceptical classmates. And ultimately to the decision as early as second year that she wanted to be an Auror, so that she'd always be able to protect herself and others.

Tonks had never been very good at keeping her mouth shut when something was on her mind. She feels a bit silly voicing out loud some things she's never even said to Cel or her mum. But Remus just listens and nods and occasionally offers a word or two of opinion. He's alarmingly easy to talk to.

"Something I've been wondering," Remus says one evening, gently edging onto the topic, "Why the bright hair colours?"

Tonks shrugs.

"Not that I don't like them, of course," Remus adds hastily. His worry at offending her with such an innocent question is very endearing.

"If I'm doomed to stand out, might as well do it on purpose," Tonks answers offhandedly, picking at a hole in her jeans.

Remus, of all things, laughs, "You're the exact opposite of me on that issue."

"How'd you mean?" Tonks wonders how Remus Lupin could possibly be doomed to stand out too much. The first time she walked into his classroom she hadn't even noticed he was there.

"No offence, Remus, but nothing about you screams 'LOOK AT ME I'M DIFFERENT'. I'd imagine most people have trouble picking you out in a crowd. Or even a library."

Again Tonks speaks without thinking, but thankfully Remus seems more amused than offended.

"Ah ha, but you see it's carefully cultivated," he dusts off his tweed jacket with a flourish. "It is my lifetime goal to be a completely ordinary, unremarkable man."

He is making a joke, but there's something heavy in his eyes at that last comment which makes Tonks' laugh die in her throat.

"You're doing well so far," she says instead. "Though if you ever need lessons in being remarkable, I'm your girl!" She tries to lighten the mood again.

"Yes, you do rather have remarkability down to a tee." Remus responds, and his voice is softer, sort of thoughtful.

Their conversations get slowly more personal, like that story her Muggle uncle—who owns a restaurant in London—tells about how a lobster won't notice it's being cooked if you raise the temperature gradually.

She finds out that Remus does not, to her great surprise, have a girlfriend (or wife) at the moment.

She reveals that she still sometimes changes her appearance a little for men, even though she knows should have grown out of it after Hogwarts.

"If you want a man's opinion, I think you should use this one," Remus says matter-of-factly.

With his free hand he gestures to her heart shaped face: strong Black cheekbones leading to a delicate chin like her mother's, pale and slightly freckly like her dad. Her hair is a dull brown today, tied off her face haphazardly with an elastic band she found in her shoe this morning.

"It's my personal favourite," he adds. Tonks would think he was joking if his eyes weren't so sincere.

"This is my natural face," she says quietly. "No morphing required."

A blush appears on the apples of her sharp high cheekbones. Remus doesn't look at all surprised by this revelation and smiles.

"I had a feeling it was," he says and leans across the sensible distance between them to very un-sensibly catch a stray strand of hair and tuck it behind her ear. Tonks holds her breath at the feel of his fingers lightly skimming her ear.

Remus studies her face closely before shaking his head a little, as if remembering where they are. He retreats away far too quickly, leaving Tonks' stomach in knots.

She tries to interpret the gesture as fatherly or friendly because it's too intimate for teacher-student but the intense look in his eyes as he did it haunts her.

She's gotten to know him in their time together and sees that Remus restrains himself constantly, though she's not sure why. There's as sadness about him, a sort of resignation, underneath all his pleasantries and jokes that she wishes she could solve. He is so restrained she wonders what would happen if he ever let himself go, let himself chase happiness and have whatever he wanted.

If he did, would he want her?

During class, they have a normal student teacher relationship, but when it's just the two of them working on something they relax into the beginnings of a friendship. Their tones become more friendly and teasing, and Tonks thinks she was right in her guess that if she'd met Remus outside of being her teacher they'd have gotten on very well.

[][][][][]

Tonks thought Remus had a soothing voice when he spoke, so she was floored when she heard him read. His slow careful husky gravelly tone somehow filled the room and yet felt completely intimate.

She volunteers to do extra assistant work taking dictation of corrections to scholarly papers he's working on outside of his work as a teacher, just because she likes to hear him read them back to her. Curled up in a comfy armchair while his soft low voice fills the small office. It sends shivers through her and makes the hairs on her neck stand on end in a good way.

"Are you sure you don't mind doing this?" he asks for the tenth time, during one session. "You're under absolutely no obligation, it's not even relevant to the class."

"Remus, for the last time, I don't mind," Tonks rolls her eyes at him over the top of her parchment.

"If you want to saddle yourself with my messy handwriting, I'm more than happy to help out," she grins, poking him with her foot across the space between their armchairs. She's wearing socks but no shoes, so she can tuck her legs up under her.

"Think of it as a friendly favour. From a sort of friend to her teacher," she smiles hopefully at him, feeling bold at calling out the new level of their relationship.

It's all right though, because he is smiling back. The smile between them lasts a long time before he looks away back to his book.

"Don't you have a boyfriend to meet?" he inquires, raising his eyebrows but keeping his eyes on the page.

"Nah, chucked him," Tonks shrugs. "He was useless. Better suited to dating a Warlock. Which I think he is now by the way."

Remus laughs loudly as she grins at him.

She had indeed chucked Toby. Mostly because she found herself with so little time to spend with him now that she was Remus' assistant. But really she was glad for the excuse.

"Yes, he was rather useless," Remus declares when he's stopped laughing.

This is perhaps the least polite and diplomatic thing Tonks has ever heard Remus say, and it makes her snort with laughter.

"Have to take what you can get though with blokes, don't you?" Tonks' laughter subsides into a wistful half-smile, half-grimace.

"I know I'm not that pretty compared to some witches but…"

Remus' snort cuts off Tonks' half-baked musing.

"What?" she asks Remus, whose eyebrows are raised at her over the edge of his book.

"You're just trying to get compliments. I'm not falling for that one," he says.

Now it is Tonks' turn to snort. And this time it's in disbelief not amusement.

Remus seems genuinely surprised. He puts the book down and tilts his head, considering her. Tonks feels suddenly very exposed, as though he is looking right inside her. She looks anywhere in the room but at him and feels his eyes run all over her. He takes a long time to speak.

"You really don't see how completely lovely you are?" he finally says, his voice hushed and almost reverent. "Not compared to anyone else, just you?"

Whatever Tonks had been expecting, it wasn't that. Her breath catches and seems stuck in her throat. Her feet squirm underneath her.

She finally meets Remus' eyes and they look at each other for too long and get stuck in a heart-stopping moment. Tonks is dimly aware that the beat of her heart is so furious he must be able to see it rise and fall through her t-shirt across the distance between their armchairs.

After an agonising few seconds, Remus saves them both by making light of the moment,

"Anyway, you can just change your looks if you don't like them, can't you?" he says.

"In theory," Tonks replies, honestly. "But I like to look like something that feels like me. And really though I moan about it, the stunningly gorgeous girls have it almost as bad as the really unfortunate ones sometimes. I've experienced that once or twice when I was playing around with my looks. It's nice to be sort of middle-y."

Remus nods understanding. This is something Tonks doesn't often discuss honestly with people, with the exception of her good friend Cel and perhaps one or two others. But it doesn't feel strange talking honestly with Remus. Like everything else, Remus makes this conversation easy.

"This is a convenient boob size for running about after Dark Wizards, anyway," Tonks adds, gesturing to her flat-ish chest.

She used to morph her boobs bigger for years until she actually grew them naturally, whereupon she changed her mind and starting shrinking them.

Remus visibly flushes at the mention of her breast size and buries himself more deeply in his book, picking up quickly where they left off.

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"Wotcher! Got a good joke for you today, Remus!" Tonks announces on a Saturday morning as she bounds into the old Ministry classroom.

"What's that then?" Remus cocks his head expectantly, up to his elbows in a tank of Grindylow.

Tonks left her mates at the pub early last night so that she could wake up early this morning to help Remus sort the new batch of Grindylow for their upcoming lessons. Yillium told her she was a nutter, but she couldn't be happier as she rolls her sleeves up.

"What do you call a Wizard from outer space?" she asks, delivering the joke with a casual comic flourish picked up from her dad.

Remus' eyebrows knit together in concentration for a moment before a look of triumph lights up his face.

"A person of stellar magical ability?" he asks hopefully.

"Nope." She grins. "Good guess. But unfortunately wrong!"

"Go on then," he sighs with overly dramatic resignation, "What _do_ you call a Wizard from outer space?"

"A flying sorcerer," she winks, joining him at the tank.

"That's terrible," Remus laughs.

"Oi," she bumps his hip with hers and is thrilled when he bumps hers back. They continue back and forth until it makes things with the Grindylow too sloppy.

[][][][][]

The sorting of the Grindylow requires a fair bit of walking back and forth from the cupboard to the other side of the classroom with tanks in hand and manoeuvring around desks in the process. Not an easy job for Tonks.

Remus has gotten into the habit of noticing when she's about to trip and fall and always being nearby to catch and steady her—which is very handy, not to mention lovely to be caught by Remus.

With a Grindylow tank under each arm, Tonks can feel her wand slipping from its place at her hip. She attempts to steady it but the movement of her hands involves more Grindylow sloshing than is probably appropriate for the poor buggers, so she lets the wand fall.

When she trips over her own wand on the way back to the cupboard, Remus (who she's certain was on the other side of the room just moments ago) stops her fall with a firm hand on her elbow keeping her upright. He removes his hand gently when he's sure she's secure.

"Quite the gentleman you are, Remus," she says, pleased, as she reaches into the cupboard for another tank.

Remus looks suddenly boyish, as though he were her age. He laughs lightly, looking at his shoes.

"Wouldn't let a lady fall down," he says.

Tonks flushes with delight, rests the tank of Grindylow on a desk and buries her head in it before he can look up from his shoes.

"Nymphadora?" He touches her on the shoulder and she jumps, having not heard him come up behind her while she was concentrating on getting her blush to go away so she could remove her head from the tank.

She almost knocks over the tank when she jumps but he catches it with one hand over her shoulder and she relishes the momentary feeling of being close to his body encircled in his arms.

"Bugger, sorry," she practically whispers. She turns around so they are face to face and looks somewhere in the region of his neck for a good thirty seconds before daring to meet his eyes.

"It's ok" he gives her his kind smile and his eyes look right into hers and crinkle and he's unbearably close to her to be so adorable and her not be able to do anything about it.

She's trapped between a desk and him. His chest is surprisingly firm considering how wiry he always looks, and he smells amazing.

Tonks feels his stomach move against hers as he exhales sharply.

"I think we'd better call it a day, I just realised the time." He says quickly.

Tonks looks at the clock and indeed it's almost two.

"I always loose track of time with you," he mutters almost to himself as he closes up her Grindylow tank and Tonks wonders if he knows she heard it.

Remus busies himself packing things into his battered briefcase but she hasn't quite recovered from that closeness to him yet. She can almost still feel his presence next to her, their bodies just barely touching.

She imagines what it would be like to have the right to touch his body whenever she felt like it. To press up against him and have him wrap his arms tight around her. To kiss him whenever he looked particularly kissable. To be surprised by his kisses, like she just was when he came up behind her and tapped her shoulder.

What if instead of tapping her shoulder, he'd put his arms around her waist and started kissing her neck, nibbling her earlobe…hot, wet, kisses, almost animal in their rawness…Tonks' eyes glaze over a little and she has to remind herself the real Remus is still in the room packing up his briefcase while fantasy Remus is putting moves on her in her head.

She realises she has never wanted someone so much before, not like this. It feels impossibly grown up. The thought should scare her, but it's too exciting to be a bad thing. Isn't it?

As she grabs her bag and pulls on her coat to leave, Tonks muses on how it doesn't really bother her anymore when Remus says her full first name when it's just them. In fact it's quite nice the way he says it: almost reverently, like it's important.

For the first time, it actually sounds as beautiful as her mum probably intended when she gave it to her, not like a daft antiquated thing with dodgy pun potential in the first syllable.

Remus is so good at making people feel good, she muses to herself. We're bloody lucky to have him. I don't know how I'd make it through the rough days without him to look forward to.

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Remus increasingly manages to almost always call Tonks 'Nymphadora', and even once or twice 'Dora'—which makes her heart skip—sometimes just to tease and sometimes because he seems to prefer it. Oddly she finds herself minding less and less, as long as he's saying it with that look on his face and in that lovely way he does.

Tonks definitely still fancies Remus but it's not like she'd fancy a Wizard her own age. He's kind and charming and extraordinarily polite, she is drawn to him at a subconscious level, as well as intellectually enjoying his company, and wants to talk to him as much as possible because he makes her feel nice and happy.

That much she understands as normal. It's stronger than it's ever been with other crushes, but she knows those feelings.

But on top of them she's sort of in awe of him and sees him as this talented, brilliant Older Wizard who she respects and fancies in the way one might fancy Dumbledore; subconsciously and never thinking he'd look at her in that way, never thinking she'd have a chance with him outside of her daydreams.

Mostly it's exciting, but she feels a bit scared sometimes of the intensity of her feelings, because it's not that she finds him particularly dreamy to look at, or that he's fanciable in the obvious ways, but this might be the beginning of something deeper than a crush, something like love and she's never felt that before.

This is not in the league of Dragon Tooth earrings.

She goes food shopping with her dad at the Muggle supermarket and one of those silly Muggle pop songs is playing—something about a lipstick stain on the left side of the brain—and she can't help thinking of Remus. In fact, every one of the silly Muggle pop songs make her think of Remus. She busies herself with finding ripe tomatoes, but tomatoes are not an entirely adequate distraction, and he seems to have taken up permanent residence in the back of her mind.

Like a Love Boggart or something.


	5. End Of Term

_A/N: This was a fast update because this chapter was begging to be written! I really like this one!_

_Thank you again for the lovely reviews, especially didgeridon't and all the anonymous reviewers who I can't reply to in person but who always leaves such nice comments! I really appreciate everyone's feedback._

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Auror Training is plodding along, and not getting any easier. Tonks still spends most of her free time with Remus in the classroom or the library and Practical Defence is still by far her favourite class.

After Remus' classes or their work sessions lately she feels oddly breathless and blames it on laughing so much.

Remus announces one afternoon towards the end of a class that they'll do a quick test to make sure everyone can produce a corporeal patronus.

"I'll just refresh your memories with the incantation," he continues, pleasant and encouraging as always.

He takes out his wand and holds it firmly in front of him. Planting his feet, he clears his throat. Tonks watches his eyes glaze over a little as though he's remembering something and a sweet small smile creeps into the corner of his mouth. It is gone as soon as it appears and he annunciates clearly,

"Expecto Patronum!"

His patronus bursts forth brilliantly, to a round of applause from the class. It's a small exotic-looking creature that looks like a fairy, or perhaps a kind of lizard, but it's moving so fast Tonks doesn't get a clear look at it.

One by one, everyone gives their own patronus a try until the end of the lesson forces them to stop.

"Excellent work today everyone," Remus announces, clearing the desk in front of the door with a sweep of his wand.

"Marvin and Nymphadora just see me for a moment before you leave and I'll give you a few pointers to work on. Everybody make sure to practise the patronus charm for homework because next week we'll be having our first test with a real Dementor."

There some gasps at his cheerful revelation, but Remus just chuckles,

"Oh come on, you're in Auror Training now! Challenge yourselves! Dealing with Dementors is one of the most common demands in your profession. I know every one of you is fully capable; we just saw the evidence. Just remember what you know, and you'll do wonderfully. Good luck!"

He dismisses the class with a cheerful wave of his hand and turns his attention to Marvin, who is closest to him, pointing out a more comfortable way he could hold his wand.

Next it is Tonks' turn for a correction.

"Ah, 'Dora," he says quietly, smiling as she approaches his desk.

The nickname makes Tonks' heart jump as usual. It feels very personal when he says it in class, and she's glad he said it quietly because she doesn't want anyone else to overhear and start using it too.

"Now, your problem is not producing the patronus. In fact, you produce an extraordinarily bright light" Remus smiles fondly at something Tonks must have missed.

"But you run into a problem with getting it to hold one continuous corporeal form," Remus explains.

"I did a bit of reading into Metamorphmagi when I found out that you were in my class…"

"...you didn't have to," Tonks interrupts, touched by the gesture. None of her other teachers had gone to that trouble.

"No not at all," Remus continues, brushing it off, "It's good to be informed of how best I can help you."

He seems almost embarrassed by his ridiculously kind and thoughtful gesture. Tonks is touched and feels taken care of in an absurdly personal way for student to feel towards her teacher.

"Anyway," Remus continues, "It can tend to be harder for Metamorphamgi because of the nature of your makeup. The way your body and mind are used to operating is more flexible, and since the patronus, your protector, comes from a part of you, it's not used to behaving so solidly."

"Oh great," Tonks rolls her eyes at herself. Another bloody complication she didn't ask for.

"No, no," Remus hastens to stop her self-flagellation. "If you think about it, your weakness is actually your great strength."

"Oh, wonderful," Tonks rolls her eyes again, "My _greatest strength_ is something I have no control over…"

"I didn't say it was your _greatest_ strength," Remus interrupts, firmly but quietly.

His look is very intense and annoyingly smug. Tonks almost asks well what does he think _is_ her greatest strength then but she is scared of the answer, and knows it will be something meaningful by his look.

"One of your_ many _great skills is working against you here," Remus continues, "But I hear you're a tenacious Hufflepuff, so I have full confidence that we can overcome this little hitch in what is an otherwise very good patronus."

Tonks can't help but be encouraged by his faith in her.

"We'll just need a very strong thought or memory to anchor it to," Remus suggests. "Let's try, shall we?"

He indicates for her to get ready facing the longest part of the classroom and moves from leaning against the edge of his desk to walk around beside her.

"Can you think of a good one?" he asks, his soft low gravelly voice suddenly a lot closer. "A thought or memory, something happy?"

Suddenly Remus is standing behind her, around her, his hand guiding her wand hand, his other lightly touching her hip to keep her steady and Tonks is almost certain he doesn't realise he's doing it.

The hand on her hip is warm and she can feel the soft slightly rough pads of two of his fingertips where her wash-shrunk t-shirt rides up over her stomach. When he speaks again, "'Dora, do you have one?" his voice is low and right near her ear and he's close enough that she can feel it vibrate through his torso as he speaks.

Out of nowhere that very male thing reminds her of how safe it felt to fall asleep on her dad's lap when she was little.

Tonks closes her eyes and turns her head slightly into him, channelling the very small amount of stealth she possesses not to get caught sniffing him. If Remus notices, he doesn't show it.

Remus smells like rich woody musky warmth and books and she can feel the calm pleasant tangibleness of his presence inches from her, around her, like a human security cloak, calming her fear and reassuring her of her strength.

Yes, she thinks, _happiness_, exactly.

Her eyes close and in her mind's eye she sees Remus laughing at the bad joke she made on her way into class, his grin splitting his face. She feels a soft jolt and sees the bright white light through her closed eyelids as a strongly corporeal Patronus bursts forth from her wand.

Cheers erupt from the few people still on their way out of the classroom and when Tonks opens her eyes she sees everyone watching her intently as her Patronus comes to rest at the far side of the room.

She doesn't catch her embarrassed blush in time to morph it away and when she turns around she sees Remus is watching her intently too. He is impressed and smiling but there's a quality to it she hasn't seen before, like a proud private little smile.

Tonks doesn't know what to do with herself suddenly, and wishes there weren't still other people in the classroom with them.

She jerks away from him, catching her foot on a chair in the process. She's still wearing the stupid soft soled shoes from Slindra's class and the chair is solid oak, so it really hurts, making her wince in pain and quickly blink back involuntary tears.

The stragglers near the door laugh, because her clumsiness is an easy joke.

She hears Yilliums' shout of "Watch out for passing furniture Tonks!" as he leaves and sends him a friendly rude gesture as she curses the ruddy shoes, bending to pull the one off to inspect her toes for damage.

She bumps heads with Remus who was bending down to kneel at her feet.

"Ouch! Sorry Remus!" she winces again, rubbing her forehead and blushing worse than the first time.

"You're forgiven," he smiles, rubbing his own forehead with one hand and holding out his other hand expectantly for her foot.

Tonks, confused that he was on his way to the floor in the first place, asks, "Did you, uh, drop something?"

Remus meets her eyes when he replies, "I didn't manage to catch you this time. I feel somewhat responsible. I just want to make sure you're all right."

Feeling very fluttery, Tonks slowly lifts her foot to rest in his palm, expecting at every moment for him to do something silly and make a joke out of it.

He doesn't, just turns it gingerly in his hand, examining each toe from every angle.

When he's satisfied, he looks up at her grinning.

"I'm no healer, but I think you'll survive."

Tonks chuckles loudly, caught off guard after being so touched by his carefulness and concern.

She's almost giddy that he felt responsible for catching her and preventing her falls. And that he didn't seem to mind! That's a first for Tonks as far as blokes are concerned.

"That was an excellent Patronus," Remus says softly, rising to his feet. "You must have found a very strong happy thought."

"Mmhmm, I did," she sort of sputters, her voice involuntarily sounding throaty like the morning after drinking too much, remembering the moment when she cast it. But she doesn't really care about being daft and awkward around him anymore because somehow he manages to make her feel graceful and lovely no matter what she does.

[][][][][]

When everyone does very well in the test with the Dementor, Remus takes the whole class for a drink at The Leaky Cauldron.

"Wow, cool, sir!" Elias Rutherford exclaims at the news, high fiving an equally pleased Darren Briggs.

"You don't have to call me sir, Elias, you're not at Hogwarts anymore," Remus says patiently with a smile.

"None of our other teachers have taken us out for a drink!" Darren snorts, "Can you imagine Mad-Eye buying you an Old Ogden's?" There is laughter from everyone around him.

"Unlikely, indeed," Remus replies jovially, "Though not impossible. Although I understand he rather prefers his own hip flask, so you'd have to convince him to abandon that first."

They head to the Leaky later that night. Most of the girls are dressed to impress, and there's a bet going amongst them as to who can get Remus to snog them first.

While it's unheard of, it's not illegal to get off with their teacher now that they're of age and out of Hogwarts and Remus Lupin has huge romantic potential not just to Tonks but to anyone with eyes and ears. He's not only a brilliant Wizard but a bloody lovely and modest one at that. His features seem ordinary at first but light up as soon as he becomes engaged in a good conversation. It's clear why all the girls find him sexy.

Tonks doesn't know why she resents the girls their fun so much, as she's got no less of a crush on Remus Lupin than they have. It's more than the fact that she decided recently after talking with Remus that dressing up for a bloke was something she'd never do again, or that she's not a ditzy girly girl like all of them and never has been, or that she likes to go against the crowd just to prove she has the strength be different and do what _she_ wants (force of habit).

But when Remus looks right past the dolled up tarts and winks at her she feels better. She doesn't sit anywhere near him at the pub for fear of loosing an eye to the embarrassingly keen girls. But he finds her by the bar between their third and fourth rounds balancing beer mats on an exaggeratedly long nose to make Yillium laugh and congratulates her on the cheekiest essay on Dementors he's ever read, made even more astounding by the fact that she got full marks. There is distinct admiration in his approving nod.

Tonks, while not dressed as openly slaggy as most of the girls, did make a _small_ amount of effort. But only because she fancied wearing her favourite top. It's basically just a piece of material, sort of like a chiffon scarf, around her middle with stringy bits hanging off, and she has to wear it with a warming charm so as not to freeze to death in winter. She justifies the flimsy material by pairing it with combat boots and her trusty comfy patched up jeans. She tells herself she must be imagining Remus' gaze lingering on her very visible shoulder blades while he's talking to her. Seeing what she wishes he'd be doing; no thanks to the Firewhiskeys she's knocking back.

By their seventh round, drunk on far too much Firewhiskey, the girls have grown even more bravado and are surrounding poor Remus like vultures around a carcass, fishing for compliments.

Remus looks like he'd like to melt into the back of the quilted pub booth (and with the dodgy pattern on his jacket very nearly _could_) and Tonks remembers what he said about preferring to remain unremarkable. Her heart goes out to him as he's clearly very uncomfortable, and it would be quite funny if she didn't want to hex all those dim-witted girls so badly.

Darren and Elias, also on the wrong side of tipsy, are arguing over their preferences of blondes and brunettes respectively. The eager girls jump on this, turning it around on poor Remus.

"Remus, what hair colour do _you_ like best on a witch?" Serina Proudfoot asks, giggling obnoxiously. "Mine or Nadine's?" she adds and she and Nadine Gamp push themselves dangerously close to Remus, as he shies away from their low cut tops.

He is clearly trying to retain some sense of appropriate boundaries and Tonks thinks he might be regretting the good intentions with which he suggested that drink.

"Or Tonks'!" Nadine adds, pointing to Tonks on the fringe of the cackling group, now having progressed to morphing funny eyebrows for Yillium and the more level-headed boys and trying to look like she doesn't care. Nadine is barely suppressing giggles, obviously finding the possibility that anyone would prefer Tonks' garish hair ridiculous. It is bright pink today and styled in a mohawk. Appropriately intimidating and dangerous looking for a Dark-Wizard-catcher-in-training, in Tonks' opinion.

"Uh, well" Remus looks at his hands in his lap, possibly praying for a way out of the question alive, Tonks observes. Then Remus smiles at his hands and raises his head.

"I actually like unusual striking colours—being quite the deviant myself. Despite what these waistcoats suggest," Remus answers with a straight face. The girls all laugh and the sound grates on Tonks.

"Although I'm no expert in good taste. My hair was longer than yours when I was your age," He adds, shaking his head woefully, and being completely oblivious to how adorable he is when he acts so pathetic. The obnoxious girly laughter grows to a roar.

Under the cover of the laughter Remus gets up for another drink, leaning over in the booth as he passes Tonks so that his mouth is near the side of her head and she feels rather than hears him whisper,

"I'm rather fond of pink".

Her heart stops for a moment and her hand shoots to her head and grabs a vivid pink spike. Tonks tries to remember how to breathe.

He was just being nice, she tells herself, but for the rest of the evening she keeps catching Remus' eye as Nadine is blabbing on about her amazing shield charms or her tits (what a Slytherin!), and he smiles in a way that makes her feel like they're sharing a private joke right under their noses….

[][][][][]

Remus isn't the only thing making Tonks shiver as the winter draws in. Tonks isn't particularly happy that they are heading towards their three week Christmas holiday. It's a lot shorter than the Hogwarts holidays but still a significant amount of time in which to miss Remus.

"Remus, what are you doing for Christmas?" she asks as she helps him sort through the end of term exams.

"Nothing terribly interesting," he replies vaguely and quickly changes the subject.

He's a bit cagey about his plans every time she asks him and Tonks worries that he's got a new girlfriend and will be spending it with her and is trying not to hurt her feelings.

Because she'd be surprised if her huge crush wasn't obvious to him by now. Sometimes she tricks herself into thinking he might feel something back, but he's such a nice kind man he's probably just trying to be gentle with her feelings.

After all, he didn't want to know at the pub, even when that slapper Gamp "accidentally" spilled Butterbeer on his trousers and tried to take them off for him, or when Serina managed to manoeuvre him under some mistletoe (which she'd conjured herself, Tonks thought). He'd politely kissed Serina on the cheek, to her great disappointment, and had used the spilt drink as an opportunity to teach Nadine a drying charm. If the overly keen girls weren't having any success then Tonks' clumsy hesitance was hardly going to draw confessions of love form him. He obviously wasn't interested in pursuing any kind of relationship with a student.

Tonks invites Remus to her parents' Christmas party anyway (a friendly gesture, she tells herself, perfectly acceptable), and tries not to be too disappointed when he doesn't turn up. It's a beautiful crisp winter night, perfect for snuggling up to someone under the guise of keeping warm, with a bright clear sky full of the constellations she knows all too well and a huge full moon. She watches a couple sneak off to "go for a walk" in her mum's charmed decorative garden wondering if she'd have had the courage to drag Remus out there for a snog if he came.

Of course he probably already had plans two days before Christmas. Just because she hangs on his every word and thinks about him 80% of the day doesn't mean he returns the sentiments. She shouldn't let his misleading niceness as a person delude her into believing that there's anything more than a very powerful crush between them. Even though she treasures their time together in his office, he's never moved their friendship beyond the tasks she volunteers to help him out with. For all she knows he just sees her as a very enthusiastic student. Besides which, after the incident at the Leaky he's probably wary of socializing with his students at all.

Tonks tries not to mope and to have a good evening anyway, but she finds it harder than usual to laugh at her dad's silly drunk jokes and make mundane conversation with her parents' friends.

She feels about a million percent better when an owl arrives the next day with a contrite apology in Remus' elegant script and a tiny box beautifully wrapped in sparkly pink paper. She tears it open with the enthusiasm of a five year old.

It contains a small tin compass that looks like it's seen better days. Tonks is confused by the present at first, but upon closer inspection realises that its face has been altered and it has been charmed to point to three different settings:

Good And Steady

Off-Balance

And

Dangerously Off-Balance.

Remus' accompanying note says,

_For all the times I won't be able to catch you over the Christmas holiday. Hopefully it will prevent at least a few._

Tonks smiles hugely and misses him already.


	6. New Term Brings Changes

_A/N: Thank you so much to all who have left reviews! MokoMokoMonster, sherbertgirl, mustikas, MaidenStar, BlackSister, Andrea999, HammersNStrings, onefowlswan, RJLupinIsSexy, Lupanari, Eurudike, Dori1587, the-purple-black, ShadowLark as well as didgeridon't and hiya/rawr and all the anonymous reviewers! It really means a lot that you take the time to leave a comment. Hope you are all still with me and still enjoying the read! Thank you also to everyone who's favourited and alerted this story - please leave a comment if you can spare a few seconds, I'd love to know what you think! If you want a reply, sign in or turn your PM on, if you just want to leave the comment, that's welcome too!_

_Glad you all seem to be enjoying the adventures of our twosome so far. Here's some more..._

* * *

**Remus Lupin and the Unforgettable Auror Nymphadora**

January comes, and with it a new batch of hires at the ministry. Most of them Tonks rarely sees apart from at lunchtime, when she's too busy chatting to Cel anyway.

But one of them, Dolores Umbridge, has the cheek to try and call Tonks out of class for an official inspection "to clarify her status as either Being or Beast, due to Metamorphmagi being a 'gray area'."

Tonks is mortified, but luckily _most_ of her classmates become outraged on her behalf rather than laughing at her. She's glad to see some of them have grown up since Hogwarts.

Even more luckily, this incident occurs in Remus Lupin's class. He is beyond outraged and gives Umbridge a piece of his mind. Everyone watches in stunned silence at the sight of Remus Lupin loosing his temper. When Umbridge refuses to leave he actually draws his wand on her.

"I am not joking, Dolores," he says, "You have no business with _any _of my students."

His voice is like steel and ice and his wiry frame looks uncharacteristically tall and imposing as he stands taut, poised to fight. He looks powerful and threatening in a way Tonks has never experienced before. Almost feral as he squares off to Umbridge, all but growling.

Tonks realizes this is not the first time Remus has fought to defend someone. Knowing he lived through the First War this shouldn't surprise her, but she could never quite connect the mild mannered man with the things he'd allegedly done until now. Tonks realizes her hands are shaking.

She gives herself a mental slap and reaches for her wand. If Remus is going to get into a fight on her behalf the least she can do is help.

She's honestly surprised at his vehement reaction; it's not the first time she's been singled out for being a Metamorphmagus and she'd bet most of her teachers would just send her off with Umbridge without a second thought.

Though Remus is a man who has fervent compassion for _Doxies_, she reminds herself.

The tension in the room is palpable as everyone leans on the edges of their seats and Tonks grips her wand ready, not sure if she's defending herself or Remus.

Perhaps realising what she's up against, Umbridge steps back with an annoying little cough.

"I won't forget this, Professor Lupin," she squeaks, flecks of spit flying from the corner of her mouth. "I can see there are many things in the Ministry that require investigation. Tell me, is _Lupin _a family name?"

[][][][][]

Two days later Remus owls Tonks at home on a Sunday asking to meet with her urgently in his office.

Her dad swears and throws a slipper at the owl as it swoops in front of the footie match on TV.

When she arrives at his office, Remus is at a shelf with his back to her, and she notices the shelf is half empty. In her distraction she trips over his doorstep, alerting him to her presence.

"Thank you for coming, 'Dora," he smiles softly and her insides feel like melted chocolate. It's hard to believe this is the same man who just last week was wielding his wand so fiercely on her behalf.

Tonks sits, and as soon as Remus sits down across from her, a bad feeling swoops down on her.

"I think something might be about to happen to me," Remus says very seriously, "Something not good…"

"Oh, bugger," Tonks feels her stomach plummet. "It's because of me, isn't it? Because of the other day."

"Don't you think that for a second," Remus says fiercely, looking in her eyes with such conviction that Tonks immediately stops blaming herself.

"You didn't ask me to do anything. What I did that day was my choice," he continues, folding his long fingers together.

"I wouldn't have let _any _of my students be treated in such an awful way by that horrible woman, but I certainly wasn't going to let her subject _you _to…"

Remus stops abruptly as though catching himself from saying too much.

"Anyway," he starts again, his tone becoming gentler and more serious,

"The whys and wherefores of it don't matter. What does matter is that over these past few months you've…I've very much enjoyed spending this time with you and I…I want you to know that…I mean to tell you..." he seems to be wrestling with himself for how to say whatever it is that he wants to say. Tonks wants to jump into his mouth and drag the words out, she is so eager to hear them.

Finally he sighs and closes his eyes, rubbing his forehead with one hand, looking somewhat defeated.

"You've come to mean a great deal to me," he says, so quietly Tonks is sure she made it up.

"Remus," she starts to say, feeling like her voice is a million miles away. But he interrupts her,

"If you should ever need to write to me, or contact me in any way, you can find me at this address," he takes a small piece of parchment from his pocket and hands it to her. There is a finality to his tone that Tonks feels in her stomach.

Her brain is off in limbo attempting to process that she _means a great deal to him_.

She has to remind her hand to take the paper from him. Her thoughts are a swirl of confusion, a mix of still being unable to quite believe Remus just said what he did and worry at the finality of his words and what they could possibly imply.

"Remus, are you going somewhere?" she asks, frightened of the answer.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow," he replies vaguely, avoiding her question. "It'll all become much clearer then."

Tonks' feeling of worry is increasing by the second.

"I just wanted to make sure, while it's just the two of us…I had to know I'd told you that." Remus finishes cryptically and immediately gets up from his chair, cutting off further discussion.

"I'm sorry to throw you out so soon out after calling you urgently, but I have rather a lot to be getting on with here." He continues with false brightness, as if their previous conversation hadn't happened.

"Anything I can help with?" Tonks offers, desperate not to have to leave before she finds out what's wrong.

"Sadly, no." his smile is so sad Tonks has to restrain herself from hugging him.

_Bugger it_, her swirly brain decides, and she crosses his small office in two strides to throw her arms around his neck and bury her face in his jumper.

_At last_, she thinks and his jumper smells so completely and familiarly _Remus_ amongst all this strangeness that it makes her tear up a little.

He is surprised at first, like she's attacked him (which she sort of has), but then she feels his arms wrap around her back and hold her to him.

It's better than she imagined being hugged by Remus. It feels like being home. Tonks doesn't dare move because she never wants it to end. His chin rests on the top of her head and she can feel his breath rustle the pink mess of hair she forgot to brush in her haste to get here.

After a minute or maybe several, Tonks realises she'll have to be the one to end the hug if she doesn't want to look like a desperate idiot, so she pulls away a little and feels his arms loosen and let her go.

He looks a little dazed, probably from her presumptuousness.

"See you tomorrow then," she swallows hard at the lump in her throat when she meets his eyes, still so sad and yet open to her in a way they've never been before.

For an insane moment she thinks he's going to kiss her. He brings one hand up to her face and touches her cheek ever so softly.

"After tomorrow," he says as though afraid of breaking an enchantment, "You might think of me a bit differently."

"What do you mean?" Tonks frowns, "I couldn't ever think of you as anyone but Remus, you daft man," she breathes, feeling brave and mesmorized by the intensity with which he is looking at her.

"I'd like to hope that's true," he looks uncertain, searching her face for an answer she doesn't know how to give.

"Of course it is," Tonks is getting frustrated. Why is he being so bloody cryptic? "Why…" she begins, but he cuts her off again. Remus, who is always so polite, cuts her off for the second time.

"I just…" it seems hard for him to say whatever he's trying to. His hand gently touches her cheek again, this time even more like a caress, it makes her lips part involuntarily. She breathes on his thumb. He slowly removes his hand from her chin.

Remus swallows, she watches his throat bob. He continues with difficulty,

"Whatever you end up thinking of me, I hope it won't change what a lovely few months this has been," he swallows heavily again. "Know that I am so grateful for the time we've spent together. And I've enjoyed it a great deal."

He stops but looks like he still has more to say. Then his face crinkles into a reluctant smile, though still sad, and he almost whispers,

"See you tomorrow, 'Dora."

"Remus," she begs again, reaching for the hand that was stroking her moments ago, but he draws his hand away and turns back to his shelf immediately. Tonks watches his back as he takes things down from the shelf until she realizes he has no intention of turning back around.

"I've enjoyed it too," she says defiantly to his back, which stiffens at the sound of her voice. "I hope you know this 'you mean a great deal' business is mutual."

She thinks she hears him mumble, "We'll see, I do hope so," but he still doesn't turn around.

Tonks sees herself out, clutching the piece of parchment he gave her tightly in her hand.

* * *

_A/N: Little bit of a cliffie sorry! I almost posted this and the next chapter together as a giant chapter, but it just seemed right to have a short break here. Next one coming soon, because I can't make Tonks wait too long wondering what's going to happen to Remus... _


	7. Not Quite Tenured Faculty

_A/N: Dum dum dummm...the adventure continues! Told you I wouldn't keep you waiting long. :) I'm glad some people appreciated the break there, and for those who just wanted more, well, here it is!_

* * *

[][][][][]

The next morning Tonks takes her seat at the back of Practical Defence as usual, anxious to find out what's so wrong that it's made Remus act so strangely.

It's not a good sign that both Moody and Umbridge are waiting at the front of the room, as well as a Wizard she's never seen before who's wearing a jumper with a cat on it.

Remus, leaning against his desk with his fingers folded together like on the first day, greets the class with a resigned solemnity.

"My dear students," he speaks quietly, resigned but with great dignity. "It brings me great sadness to announce that due to circumstances beyond my control, I am no longer permitted to teach you."

A shocked gasp runs across the room. A few people shake their heads in disbelief. Tonks thinks her heart may have stopped beating. Remus' eyes flicker ever so briefly to hers before he continues.

"Believe me, I would not be leaving if I had any choice in the matter. I do not like to leave you in the middle of the work we have been tackling together all year, and I shall very much miss being your teacher," Remus continues.

"Then why? What is it, sir?" someone shouts out. "Why do you have to leave?"

Taking the interruption as her queue, Umbridge steps forward coughing that stupid little cough again.

"What Mr. Lupin means to say," she addresses the class with a sickening sugary grin, "Is that the Ministry have discovered that he is an imposter! A dangerous Dark Creature posing as a teacher."

That can't be true, Tonks thinks. Remus wouldn't lie to them, not the Remus she knows (and, well, loves). She can't breathe.

"Mr Lupin," Umbridge continues, relishing her moment of triumph, "Is a_ werewolf_."

Another shocked gasp runs through the class, along with whispers of "No!" and even an "I told you!"

"Is it true, sir?" Darren asks from Tonks' row. "You're not, are you? She's making it up!"

Every student in the room holds their breath as they wait for Remus to confirm or deny the accusation.

"It's true, Darren," Remus answers softly. His gazed is fixed blankly at the back of the room.

Tonks is shocked and momentarily disbelieving before so many things about Remus fall very suddenly into place—the monthly absences, the scars, the mysteriousness—that she can't help but accept it must be true.

She doesn't know what to think because all her brain can register is that this is _Remus._ He can't possibly be something bad, even if he is a…_werewolf. _The more times she acknowledges it to herself, the more Tonks thinks she should have guessed all along.

Remus turns to Umbridge, clenching his fists in his attempt to remain polite and calm.

"Thank you, Dolores, for delivering the news so bluntly. I had a feeling you wouldn't let me leave without trying to terrify my students out of their wits."

Remus turns back to the class. Most of them are speechless; a few of the girls have started crying.

"I apologise that this must come as a shock to you. I didn't intend to deceive anyone; I revealed my _legal status _(Tonks notices his detached choice of words) to Alastor when he hired me, and he advised me it was unnecessary to burden young Aurors with the knowledge."

"Quite right too," Moody grumbles from his position by the door. "It doesn't count a jot toward how good of a teacher you are, and you were by far the best I could find for them."

As people begin to digest the information, a mild outrage is forming. Most seem to agree with Moody.

"He's right!" shouts Elias Rutherford, "You're the best teacher I've ever had Professor Lupin! Not just for defence, for anything, ever!"

"Thank you Elias," Remus looks genuinely touched.

"Is that why they're firing you, professor? The werewolf thing?" Nadine asks through a flood of tears.

Remus nods, reaching into his pocket. He pulls out his hankerchief and hesitantly offers it to Nadine, as though expecting her to throw it back at him.

She bursts into fresh floods of tears at the gesture, seizing the hankerchief and blowing her nose vigorously. Remus looks incredulous. A sympathetic reaction was obviously the last thing he expected. His eyebrows raise up into his hair as she blows her nose with no visible repulsion, only weepiness at his departure.

"That's ridiculous!" Marvin pipes up. He and Byron Hollings are practically on their feet at the injustice.

"That's right!" adds Yillium in a rare display of passion, "It'd be more dangerous to the country NOT to have you teach us!"

"Hear hear!" Moody agrees enthusiastically, looking uncharacteristically impressed with the young cadets.

There are a handful of people quite appalled at the support for Lupin given his revelation, edging their desks a little further away and looking around for others who agree with them, but they are in the minority. Tonks is touched, though not surprised, that most of Remus' students are behind him. She knows all too well he has a way of winning people over.

"Thank you, sincerely, for your kind comments," Remus looks very emotional. "You have no idea how much they mean to me."

"Then stay, sir!" Serina sobs, holding onto Clarence and Nadine who are crying too.

"I'd rather not make a fuss," Remus says quietly. Already resigned, but still maintaining great dignity. "Some things in life are unavoidable. I'm sure you will be in capable hands."

Remus reassures everyone that he cares for them all and will miss them, that he wishes them all the very best for their exams in a few months, and their careers and lives, whatever becomes of them. But Tonks notices he avoids looking at her. His eyes dart past her quickly before she can meet them.

She thinks about last night, how he said she might think of him differently, and wonders if maybe he CAN'T look at her because he fears he would see hatred or disgust now that she knows what he is.

It bothers her how little he knows her after all this time if he really thinks that would be her reaction. He must have come up against some awful people to be so distrusting of those he cares about. She practically glares at him with the effort of willing him to look at her. Gryffindors are supposed to be brave, but he's avoiding her completely.

Maybe he's worried that she'll react particularly badly because they spent a lot of time alone together and she trusted him with personal stories. They even touched a few times (Tonks remembers them vividly) not even counting every time her caught her. Everything he said last night suddenly makes sense, and Tonks' heart goes out to the poor man.

She is aware that she should be somewhat horrified that she has an enormous crush-and-maybe-more on a _werewolf_, but all she can think is that what she learned about werewolves as a kid was a load of bollocks because Remus is nothing like any of those things.

Even as she wrestles with the idea of knowing a werewolf, caring about a werewolf _in that way_, she still can't think of him as anything but Remus.

Especially when he's there in front of her, so sad and so real. He's not a case study werewolf, he's the person she's spent almost all of her time with these past few months and loved every minute of it. If he was as vicious and vile and unscrupulous as werewolves were reported to be, wouldn't he have shown his true colours when it was just the two of them? Bitten her to shreds or something? He can't have been saving her for a special snack or he'd have done something last night knowing it was his last time alone with her.

She's glad to see most people are reacting similarly to her. Though Tonks wonders how some of those girls are going to handle bloody Dark Wizards if they can't even keep it together and stop crying like helpless wusses.

"You are all fine young Witches and Wizards," Remus tries to comfort them, "And it has been my pleasure to spend the past few months in your inspiring company. Please don't think you won't be missed."

Most people now are either tearing up or getting angry. The girls in the front row are positively bawling.

Umbridge, becoming increasingly ticked off by their displays of affection, clears her throat,

"Oh, don't think I'll stop here Lupin," she says lightly and with great venom.

"I'm working on a new piece of anti-werewolf legislature that looks to be passed within the year. I'll make it so you never find work again. Filth like you really shouldn't be allowed to mix with normal Wizarding society."

"Toad!" someone shouts and Moody grunts angrily in agreement.

"What's that Alastor?" Umbridge simpers, and Moody has the sense to mumble something unintelligible.

"Need I remind you that Lupin threatened me," Dolores anounces dramatically, as if she hadn't been facing him off with just as much ferocity.

"He's unsafe," she insists, but no one is listening.

Everyone crowds around respectfully and waits for Remus' last words. Remus deals with the situation with great dignity.

"I regret the unpleasant nature of my departure," he says, giving sympathetic smiles to the girls who are sobbing in the front row. Apparently his being a werewolf doesn't matter to them, or their crushes, any more than it does to Tonks.

"It has been my great honour to teach you all. I could not be more proud of the Witches and Wizards you've become," he finishes sincerely.

Remus smiles one last time, sadly, glancing across the sea of faces but skimming over Tonks though she is desperately willing him to look at her.

He picks up his old shoddy briefcase and, head down, goes for the door.

"Three cheers for Remus Lupin, the best professor we've ever had!" Yillium shouts urgently. It's almost unnerving to see the laid back boy so passionate.

Everyone joins in with the hip hip hooray. Even those who took the news of him being a werewolf badly can't argue that he's been an excellent teacher.

The cheers erupt into furious applause and Remus exits to a standing ovation. He looks profoundly touched, and puts his hand to his heart, nodding gratefully as he ducks out through the doorframe without a fuss.

Everyone begins to settle down once Remus has left. The few girls still sniffling quiet down when Umbridge hands them tissues with a sharp look, and the boys stop their cheering as Mad-Eye begins talking, waving forward their new professor. It's the idiot in the cat jumper.

Tonks doesn't even hear his name. She is staring at the door Remus just walked out of. She can't believe he is gone. That could be the last time she'll ever see him. And he didn't even look at her.

It takes her less than a second to make up her mind.

Moody is doing his introduction, not looking at all pleased about it, and Umbridge is clapping her evil little hands as the new teacher with the stupid cat jumper steps forward when Tonks springs up from her chair, hearing it clatter to the floor as she's already halfway out the door. She runs after Remus as fast as she can.

"Remus!" she shouts from behind him, seeing him turn the corner at the end of the hallway. Her boots are thumping impossibly loud in the old echoey hallway, but he must not hear her because he keeps going.

She's never run so fast in her life, completely forgetting about apparition, and getting a terrible stitch from shouting while sprinting. If he gets to the elevators before she reaches him, she might lose track of him. Tonks shouts again, louder,

"REMUS!" with all her might. He stops just in front of the elevators, turning around as she skids to a stop.

He looks surprised to see her running after him, and still won't quite meet her eye.

She trips into him with the momentum of stopping, and he just barely puts his hands out to steady her; not willing to let her fall but reluctant to touch her. She grabs his hand urgently, only realizing after the fact it's the first time she's held it. It's a lot bigger than hers and fits against it warmly.

"I don't care." She says, breathing hard, her other hand gripping her stitch. Remus' head jerks up to look at her finally.

"I don't bloody care!" She repeats, now that he can see she means it.

"Did you really think I would?" she's almost angry and offended that he'd think so little of her after all they'd shared.

"If that's all you were worried about, you needn't have bothered," she squeezes his hand hard to emphasise her point, practically shaking it.

"I still enjoyed our time together too and you meaning a lot to me is still very mutual and…"

She is cut off by Remus gathering her up in a fiercely tight hug. Her mouth hangs open, sentence half finished, in surprise as she delights in being in his arms for the second time in two days.

His mouth finds her ear, still holding her tightly to him.

"I was terrified," he murmurs in a quiet voice that is achingly vulnerable.

"I thought you wouldn't want to know me." He breathes out roughly and it sounds like he is stopping himself from crying.

"I wouldn't have blamed you," he adds softly.

He curls around her to bury his face in her neck in spite of himself. She feels him breathe her in and is thankful he's holding her tight so she doesn't fall over when her knees go weak at the intimacy of it.

It makes her ache to see Remus so vulnerable, but at the same time feels wonderful that he is letting her in at last. That he truly does care about her. A lot, it seems. Even though it's a sad occasion, something in Tonks soars with joy.

So many things about Remus make sense with this new information: his guardedness, the restraint, the sad resigned quality beneath his smiles.

He must not dare to hope for much and Tonks, feeling suddenly years older and more powerful as this brilliant man breathes her in like a life-force, is determined to give him everything he's worth.

She strokes the back of Remus' neck soothingly as he breathes heavily into her neck. His lips form "Oh, Dora," over and over against her skin, as if he's charming the words to stay there. She is so focused now on taking care of him that she hardly registers how wildly intimate this is for them. How something has been let loose in Remus now. And he is definitely not her teacher any more.

"Nymphadora!" a gruff voice calls.

At least it's Moody, not Umbridge, who's come after her.

She pulls away from Remus reluctantly, just enough to turn and see Mad-Eye.

When Remus removes his head from the place where her neck joins her shoulder, she sees his eyes are a little moist at the corners. He is openly staring at her in wonder, like he still can't quite believe she really doesn't care.

Cel would laugh that Dragon-Tooth-earring-lover-Tonks was getting swoony over a bloke who cried on her shoulder.

Tonks is struck with the bizarre thought that at least being a werewolf ups Remus' street cred. Even more than a dragon tooth earring, as a matter of fact.

"Don't be silly, girl," Moody clunks toward them. "We're all going to miss Lupin, but that's life. It ain't fair. Now where would we all be if everyone ran out of the room after him, eh?"

Tonks isn't sure about Moody's logic, but his point is clear.

"Back to class with you and be sure you apologise to your new professor," he orders.

"You don't want to get off on the wrong foot. Not when you've done so well with this one."

Tonks is alarmed to see Moody attempt a wink with his good eye. But still he's forcibly removing her from Remus and strong-arming her back down the hallway she came from.

"Until next time, Lupin," Moody nods respectfully to Remus, who is still recovering from being thoroughly unused to the experience of being very pleasantly surprised by someone.

"Bloody strong you are, Mad-Eye," Tonks struggles against his firm grasp. There's no getting away from him.

"Remus, I'll write to you!" she calls urgently and sees him nod, still dazed, and smile and wave as Moody drags her around the corner.

Remus is definitely looking her in the eye this time.

* * *

_A/N: Lupinari - yes, what a coincidence that this was about to happen right as you mentioned Lycanthropy in a review. I wanted to comment back and say "Wow! Well, actually..." but I didn't want to tip everyone else off! and I can't PM you on here. :) Also, thanks again anonymous reviewers and the ones I wasn't able to PM reply. I really do appreciate all reviews! It's very nice of you to take the time to leave a comment. :)_


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